[80.07] The SPARTAN 201-03 Mission: Third Flight of the White Light Coronagraph System

The SPARTAN 201 coronal observatory equipment was flown for the
third time during the STS-69 mission, 8 - 10 September 1995. The
goal of this mission was to document the distribution of material
in the solar corona at the time of the Ulysses north polar passage.
Nominal operation of the flight systems produced a substancial
number of coronal images distributed over the four pre-selected
target positions, which included the two positions over the
north solar polar region, and the polar coronal hole - helmet
streamer interfaces found at both the east and west limbs. The
polarization sequences obtained were used to create a secondary
data base of polarized brightness images useful for the inference
of the morphology of the corona and estimation of physical conditions
found near the polar regions of the sun. The measured photometric
and polarimetric properties of the data set are compared with
pre-launch expectations and the performance of previous orbital
coronagraph operations.